Fairies Album — Suoluo Shuangshu's novel
At a glance5 volumes
Fairies Album adapts Bai Yao Pu (百妖谱), "The Register of a Hundred Demons", a novel by Suoluo Shuangshu (裟椤双树). Its heroine, Tao Yao, is an unusual doctor from Taodu: she treats only yaoguai, the creatures and spirits of Chinese folklore, never humans. Accompanied by a little monk, Mo Ya, and a fox named Gungun, she travels the world from patient to patient.
Origins and publication
Suoluo Shuangshu, a recognised name in Chinese fantasy, was already known for the Fu Sheng Wu Yu (浮生物语) series. Bai Yao Pu carries the author's trademark: short, melancholy stories inspired by classic supernatural tales such as those of Pu Songling. The novel is built like a collection of episodes, each yaoguai bringing its illness, its story and often a painful bond with the humans around it.
The Chinese print edition, published by Changjiang Publishing from December 2016, had reached 5 volumes by 2025. The novel first appeared in Xiaoshuo Guan magazine before its collected editions.
How it differs from the donghua
Haoliners' donghua, launched in April 2020 on Bilibili, is one of the adaptations most faithful to its source's tone. It keeps the episodic structure and the novel's gentle melancholy, with 2D inspired by traditional painting. The novel develops the relationships between Tao Yao, Mo Ya and the snake Liu, their old neighbour, further, and keeps the mystery of the heroine's past alive longer.
Reception and success
Bai Yao Pu is much loved by readers, with an 8 rating on Bangumi, and recalls Japanese works such as Mushishi in its gentleness and episodic structure. The donghua introduced the novel to a much wider audience, especially internationally.
Trivia
- The fox Gungun was originally a fox demon Tao Yao subdued: to save its life, it had to return to its baby fox form.
- The title Bai Yao Pu means "the register of a hundred demons".
- Taodu, where Tao Yao comes from, is a mythical city associated with peach trees and the spirit world.
- Suoluo Shuangshu also wrote the Fu Sheng Wu Yu series, very popular in China.
My take
Bai Yao Pu is a novel I enjoy rereading, like a book of tales. Each episode is short, often sad, sometimes funny, and Tao Yao is an endearing heroine, both prickly and generous. Readers looking for a big continuous plot will be disappointed. But for a gentle, poetic read, it is perfect.
Who is it for?Lovers of tales, Chinese folklore and bittersweet stories, and fans of Mushishi.
— Spidermas, for Donghua Fan
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The authorSuoluo Shuangshu 裟椤双树The storyteller of the yaoguai